The present disclosure relates to 3-dimensional (3D) navigation, and more particularly, to navigation for 3D image presentation in a mobile device, and a 3D image presentation method used in the navigation system.
Currently, commercially available navigation systems display a planar 2-dimensional (2D) map or a perspective view in which an object may be seen three-dimensionally, and display only pieces of terrain that may be indistinct in 2D, such as crossings, tunnels, or the like, as 3-dimensional (3D) images.
However, if a navigation system displays all facilities in 3D, it would be convenient for a user to switch their visual point and to compare displayed images with the actual terrain to decide on which direction to head. However, in order to model the appearances of terrain and buildings in 3D, high-resolution aerial photographs and laser profilers, or the like are required. In addition, in order to obtain texture data on the buildings, photographs of the exterior of the building are required. In addition, it is costly to take these photographs and it also takes a considerable amount of time to 3D-model the terrain and buildings based on the photographs. For these reasons, it is costly to create contents for 3D navigation systems.
Recently, various algorithms for generating 3D images of highly dense cities or buildings have been researched and applied to high-specification PCs for 3D gaming. However, for 3D-image presentation using such algorithms, excessive data for modeling topological irregularities and a large memory size for the data are required. In addition, it is impossible to provide the data in real-time, and there is a limit to applying the algorithms to mobile devices for navigation since such algorithms are executed only in high-specification PCs that can process a large amount of data.